Rast Leads Schubert 1-2-3 in Hockenheim Pre-Season Testing

Rene Rast led a Schubert Motorsport top-three lockout across two days of DTM pre-season testing at Hockenheim.

The three-time series champion, piloting the No. 33 Schubert Motorsport BMW M4 GT3, posted a best time of 1:37.077 in the fourth and final session taking place late on Wednesday afternoon.

Rast outpaced Schubert teammate Sheldon van der Linde by 0.137 seconds, while Marco Wittmann completed the top three with a 1:37.382 that he had set during session three on Wednesday morning.

The vast majority of the field set their fastest time during running on Wednesday, with the sole exception of the pair of Manthey EMA Porsche 911 GT3 Rs of Ayhancan Guven and Thomas Preining.

The two drivers set the pace during the opening day of running on Tuesday, with Guven posting a 1:37.414 and Preining reeling off a 1:37.536 aboard the No. 91 car to end the day first and second.

They were shuffled down the order somewhat by the improvements made by the three BMW drivers, but still ended the test fourth and fifth overall.

The remainder of the top ten was largely dominated by Mercedes-AMG entries, with Luca Stolz sixth, Maro Engel seventh and Lucas Auer eighth.

Kelvin van der Linde was the best Audi contender in ninth, posting a 1:37.753 in session three behind the wheel of the No. 3 ABT Sportsline Audi R8 LMS GT3 Evo II.

Arjun Maini rounded out the top ten in the No. 36 Mercedes-AMG Team HRT Mercedes-AMG GT3 Evo, ahead of the No. 7 ABT Sportsline Audi of Ricardo Feller and the No. 14 Emil Frey Racing Ferrari 296 GT3 driven by Jack Aitken.

Clemens Schmid put the No. 85 Doerr Motorsport McLaren 720S GT3 Evo 13th for the British brand’s return to the series, leading Thierry Vermeulen’s No. 69 Ferrari.

Christian Engelhart completed the top 15 aboard the No. 63 GRT Grasser Racing Team Lamborghini Huracan GT3 EVO2.

The DTM season kicks off at Oschersleben on April 26-28.

RESULTS: Session 1/Session 2/Session 3/Session 4